There are multiple issues faced
by every society around the world, where some issues are of local nature, but
there are issues, which are also universal in nature. These universal issues
are faced by every society around the globe. The severity of the issue can be
less or more in different societies, but their existence is obvious. The two
universal nature issues faced by almost every society are inequality and
poverty. It is important for stakeholders to understand the relationship
between inequality and poverty. When there is too much inequality in different
terms in a society, such society will have an enormous gap between the rich and
poor, which means that the rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer.
So, this inequality between the two groups of a society plays its part in
increasing poverty. Therefore, it is vital to come up with concrete actions to
mitigate inequality as well as poverty (Beteille, 2003)
There can be different strategies
to reduce poverty and inequality, and each strategy can have its short term and
long term effects. It has been observed that if considerable efforts are made
with proper planning and implementation, then reducing the level of poverty as
well as inequality is very much feasible. The role of government is very
critical in this regard, as their policy can really help to lift the poor
section of society. For this purpose, it is important for the government to
make a fiscal policy, which is pro-poor. The government along with the private
sector should come up with social programs, which have certain targets to meet.
These programs can target areas with more poverty so that they can be dragged
out of poverty. The stakeholders should also review any legal and policy
frameworks, which play their part in inequality. It will also help them to come
up with poverty reduction strategies, which are differentiated in the approach
to deal with each section of society. The poorest regions will need intense
focus and attention, where less poor regions will need fewer resources and
efforts. So, it is important to set a target so that resources and efforts are
spent on the right section of the society. One mistake is often made that only
income inequality is included is taken as an important tool to measure
inequality, whereas it is crucial to look at other types of inequalities as
well. It is also vital to monitor these policies and programs on a regular
basis so that the performance is measured, what has been achieved, and what
else has to be achieved (BONILLA, 2016)
It can be concluded in the end
that if poverty has to be reduced, then inequality will be an important measure
to do so. The income and other types of inequalities play their part in
strengthening the issue of poverty in any society. So, when inequality is targeted
with pinpoint strategy and things are managed accordingly, and then poverty is
also reduced with the passage of time. Different strategies to deal with
poverty and inequality should be adopted by all the stakeholders.
References on Reducing Inequality
and Poverty from the Society
Beteille, A. (2003). Poverty and Inequality. Economic
and Political Weekly , 38 (42), 4455-4463.
BONILLA, F. (2016). Nine strategies to reduce inequality.
Retrieved October 31, 2019, from http://www.a-id.org/2016/11/08/nine-strategies-to-reduce-inequality/